Welcome to the future, thinking optional and certainly not encouraged
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/oct/11/french-phone-bill[^] I don't understand how: a) Someone is even supposed to be able to rack up a phone bill of over 5000x French GDP and: b) How staff tried to get her to pay in instalments 100 smartphones downloading torrents for an entire year wouldn't create 0.1% of that bill.
Wow, someone forgot to put check constraint while designing the database, and now someone else has to pay... it's always programmer's fault... always!
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/oct/11/french-phone-bill[^] I don't understand how: a) Someone is even supposed to be able to rack up a phone bill of over 5000x French GDP and: b) How staff tried to get her to pay in instalments 100 smartphones downloading torrents for an entire year wouldn't create 0.1% of that bill.
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there was once my phone company sent my info to a collection agency for an amount they did NOT and failed to invoice me!!! (I had to call them five six times and visit their shops and finally almost needed a lawyer to sort this out)
dev
I had a FIVE YEAR argument with British Gas about a gas bill. They threatened to cut me off, I said go ahead. They set bailiffs round and I managed to convince the bailiffs that I did not owe the money. They took me to court. In court they claimed that I owed them a total of £4000 odd pounds for gas. I let them say their piece, show the magistrates the unpaid bills, tell them about how I constantly fought them in their attempts to get me to pay. When they had done I showed them the photograph of the space where, had I been connected to the gas there would have been a gas meter. I showed them a form, signed by a British Gas meter reader who confirmed there was no meter and, indeed, no gas connection at all. I showed the magistrates the several letters from BG confirming that I had no gas and also the letter that apologised for the hassle caused. The result from the bench was not long in coming, and I particularly loved the look on the face of the BG Lawyer. He realised that he had lost as soon as I started presenting my evidence. The magistrates concurred. I was cleared of any debt owed, was awarded £1500 costs, plus £2000 compensation for stress and harassment. The lawyer was dragged up in court, ordered to apologise to me on behalf of British Gas, was given a reprimand for bringing this to court and told that the bench would be writing to the Bar Association about it. BG were given costs of over £11,000. Two weeks later, I got a red gas demand letter in the post. I phone BG and got through to a senior manager. I told him what had happened and that this was now a contempt of court action and that I would be sending this to my solicitor immediately. The bill was cancelled and I was sent a cheque for £250 ex gratia. I never heard from BG again!
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^]
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/oct/11/french-phone-bill[^] I don't understand how: a) Someone is even supposed to be able to rack up a phone bill of over 5000x French GDP and: b) How staff tried to get her to pay in instalments 100 smartphones downloading torrents for an entire year wouldn't create 0.1% of that bill.
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I had a FIVE YEAR argument with British Gas about a gas bill. They threatened to cut me off, I said go ahead. They set bailiffs round and I managed to convince the bailiffs that I did not owe the money. They took me to court. In court they claimed that I owed them a total of £4000 odd pounds for gas. I let them say their piece, show the magistrates the unpaid bills, tell them about how I constantly fought them in their attempts to get me to pay. When they had done I showed them the photograph of the space where, had I been connected to the gas there would have been a gas meter. I showed them a form, signed by a British Gas meter reader who confirmed there was no meter and, indeed, no gas connection at all. I showed the magistrates the several letters from BG confirming that I had no gas and also the letter that apologised for the hassle caused. The result from the bench was not long in coming, and I particularly loved the look on the face of the BG Lawyer. He realised that he had lost as soon as I started presenting my evidence. The magistrates concurred. I was cleared of any debt owed, was awarded £1500 costs, plus £2000 compensation for stress and harassment. The lawyer was dragged up in court, ordered to apologise to me on behalf of British Gas, was given a reprimand for bringing this to court and told that the bench would be writing to the Bar Association about it. BG were given costs of over £11,000. Two weeks later, I got a red gas demand letter in the post. I phone BG and got through to a senior manager. I told him what had happened and that this was now a contempt of court action and that I would be sending this to my solicitor immediately. The bill was cancelled and I was sent a cheque for £250 ex gratia. I never heard from BG again!
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^]
About 10 years ago I had some fun with BT about bills and the like. Every month, instead of getting a normal bill it would be a red reminder (for the current billing period, WTF?), so I called their telephone goons to try and find out why I never received any normal bills and try to put an end to their nonsense. BT: "That's impossible. You're definitely receiving normal bills too." Me: "How? Are you coming to my place personally to deliver them? They're not signed for as recorded post either. How do you know I'm getting the correct bills?" BT: "Like I said, that's impossible. With our patented 'walksort' system we can be 100% sure that our bills are getting through". OK, whatever. I paid the reminders. Then I had a problem with my ADSL modem and had to send it back to be replaced. Sent via recorded post and I got a confirmation that it had been signed for from Royal Mail. Weeks later I get a threatening letter demanding that I immediately return the modem or face legal proceedings, so I call the customer servitude centre once more: BT: "we haven't had your faulty modem in the post, you need to return it to us now" Me: "I sent it recorded delivery and have confirmation from Royal Mail that it was received and signed for by yourselves" BT: "We don't have that on our records I'm afraid, so you'll still have to send us the modem" Me: "That's impossible, I not only sent it via recorded delivery, I also sent it using my patented 'walksort' system so I can be 100% sure my faulty modems are getting through" BT: long pause, "erm, er", then hangs up I've also had similar issues with British Gas sending cutoff notices for the current month's bill and a broadband company called Datacomms Europe who were still sending me bills nearly a year after my contract ended. I'm almost inclined to think that companies deliberately try stuff like this on with customers because I'm struggling to comprehend how anybody can be that dense and do stuff like that by accident.
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Wow, someone forgot to put check constraint while designing the database, and now someone else has to pay... it's always programmer's fault... always!
But with current inflation, it won't be too long before that number is possible so putting a check constraint on it would not have been "forward thinking." :)
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/oct/11/french-phone-bill[^] I don't understand how: a) Someone is even supposed to be able to rack up a phone bill of over 5000x French GDP and: b) How staff tried to get her to pay in instalments 100 smartphones downloading torrents for an entire year wouldn't create 0.1% of that bill.
"I nearly had a heart attack. There were so many zeros that I couldn't even work out how much it was." Really? A heart attack? If I saw that many zeros I would have laughed out loud. That's funny.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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About 10 years ago I had some fun with BT about bills and the like. Every month, instead of getting a normal bill it would be a red reminder (for the current billing period, WTF?), so I called their telephone goons to try and find out why I never received any normal bills and try to put an end to their nonsense. BT: "That's impossible. You're definitely receiving normal bills too." Me: "How? Are you coming to my place personally to deliver them? They're not signed for as recorded post either. How do you know I'm getting the correct bills?" BT: "Like I said, that's impossible. With our patented 'walksort' system we can be 100% sure that our bills are getting through". OK, whatever. I paid the reminders. Then I had a problem with my ADSL modem and had to send it back to be replaced. Sent via recorded post and I got a confirmation that it had been signed for from Royal Mail. Weeks later I get a threatening letter demanding that I immediately return the modem or face legal proceedings, so I call the customer servitude centre once more: BT: "we haven't had your faulty modem in the post, you need to return it to us now" Me: "I sent it recorded delivery and have confirmation from Royal Mail that it was received and signed for by yourselves" BT: "We don't have that on our records I'm afraid, so you'll still have to send us the modem" Me: "That's impossible, I not only sent it via recorded delivery, I also sent it using my patented 'walksort' system so I can be 100% sure my faulty modems are getting through" BT: long pause, "erm, er", then hangs up I've also had similar issues with British Gas sending cutoff notices for the current month's bill and a broadband company called Datacomms Europe who were still sending me bills nearly a year after my contract ended. I'm almost inclined to think that companies deliberately try stuff like this on with customers because I'm struggling to comprehend how anybody can be that dense and do stuff like that by accident.
Last year we received a shutoff notice because we were $0.00 in arrears on our electric bill. Luckily my wife contacted someone sensible at the utility and got it straightened out.
Schenectady? What am I doing in Schenectady?
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Last year we received a shutoff notice because we were $0.00 in arrears on our electric bill. Luckily my wife contacted someone sensible at the utility and got it straightened out.
Schenectady? What am I doing in Schenectady?
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I had a FIVE YEAR argument with British Gas about a gas bill. They threatened to cut me off, I said go ahead. They set bailiffs round and I managed to convince the bailiffs that I did not owe the money. They took me to court. In court they claimed that I owed them a total of £4000 odd pounds for gas. I let them say their piece, show the magistrates the unpaid bills, tell them about how I constantly fought them in their attempts to get me to pay. When they had done I showed them the photograph of the space where, had I been connected to the gas there would have been a gas meter. I showed them a form, signed by a British Gas meter reader who confirmed there was no meter and, indeed, no gas connection at all. I showed the magistrates the several letters from BG confirming that I had no gas and also the letter that apologised for the hassle caused. The result from the bench was not long in coming, and I particularly loved the look on the face of the BG Lawyer. He realised that he had lost as soon as I started presenting my evidence. The magistrates concurred. I was cleared of any debt owed, was awarded £1500 costs, plus £2000 compensation for stress and harassment. The lawyer was dragged up in court, ordered to apologise to me on behalf of British Gas, was given a reprimand for bringing this to court and told that the bench would be writing to the Bar Association about it. BG were given costs of over £11,000. Two weeks later, I got a red gas demand letter in the post. I phone BG and got through to a senior manager. I told him what had happened and that this was now a contempt of court action and that I would be sending this to my solicitor immediately. The bill was cancelled and I was sent a cheque for £250 ex gratia. I never heard from BG again!
--------------------------------- I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave CCC Link[^]
so sorry hear about your experience I have my own to tell too - earlier this year my phone company sent my bill directly to collection agencies. I told the collection agencies to piss off and contact my phone company for the invoice. It wasn't until after five six shop visits + lengthy phone calls + emails (Copied to Consumer Council here in HK) that the phone company finally send me the invoice. The bill total HK150 (i.e. USD25) it was a joke and in final email i sent them I basically said (a) demand USD3000 for time I wasted chasing for a invoice (how ridiculous), and (b) no invoice no money
dev